For some reason this quotation has been rattling around in my head the last few days…I seem to remember hearing this as a relatively young child, back when I read everything I could get my hands on like newspapers and cereal boxes.
However, in checking this quote, it seems to have never existed in this context. Let’s hope the literal iteration then is also a fallacy, as I don’t think we’ll be very happy under a majority of “reluctant” government control.
Anyone who thinks that the General is going to magically reappear as some sort of automotive phoenix should pony up their investment soon…but I doubt that will happen. Instead, smart investors will be looking for companies that continue to be successful, even in these hard times. They will go with a “winner” , and rightly so…for investments today and in the near future MUST be for anticipated near-term profit.
Let’s think about what GM is bringing to the market…anything now in production for the next 3 to 5 years is pretty much the same types of vehicles they already build…oh, there’ll be a hybrid here and there, and some “econo-minimized” models, but for the most part it’s business as usual. This government takeover won’t have any effect on “future” technologies for at least 5-7 years…and they would have likely gotten there anyway, without the bailout.
As far as the quote…it was stated by the Chairman of GM, Charles Wilson in 1953, reporting to a Senate Committee.
The statement as reported by the New York Times (Feb. 24, 1953) was, “For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country.” The Democrats on the committee, who were in a majority, focused on the “vice versa” of Wilson’s statement…
It took them 56 years, but Big Government finally got the control they were looking for.
Posts
